Review: Game of Thrones-SE6 EP6: Blood of my Blood

In a season that has minor characters airing their collars nervously, the biggest shock in this week’s episode of Game of Thrones was that everyone lived.

The show opened with Bran snapping out of the most epic powernap in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. He informed Meera that the White Walkers were coming, as if she hadn’t been the one towing his lazy ass through the snow away from the hordes of the undead. Looking certain to die, a last minute intervention from a horseback stranger prolonged a story arc that is on the verge of becoming interesting. Known in the books as “Coldhands”, their saviour revealed himself to be none other than Bran’s uncle Benjen Stark who, you won’t remember, went missing in the first season of Game of Thrones after going out ranging. More interestingly, Bran experienced flashbacks of the Mad King uttering his breezy catchphrase “BURN THEM ALL!”, possibly strengthening recent theories about Bran’s involvement in Aerys Targaryean’s madness.

Winter is coming. 6 seasons from now…

Sam and Gilly made it to Hardhome in time for a very uncomfortable dinner with Gilly’s in-laws. Randall Tarly, confirming his reputation as a massive dickhead, made his feelings about Sam’s choice in everything abundantly clear before he stormed out of the room. Sam, about to leave Gilly and baby Sam under the tenuous protection of his father to study as a maester, had a last minute change of heart, escaping Hardhome with Gilly, Samwell Jr. and his father’s precious Valyrian steel blade.

Arya, as if suddenly realizing how lame her story arc is, decided to go her own way, foiling her own assassination attempt and going into hiding. Arya is a resourceful girl, but it’s unclear how she intends to escape the wrath of the Faceless Men, who are pretty miffed that a young girl would turn down the opportunity to be blinded, beaten with a stick and forced to murder innocent people. The youth of today, eh?

The High Sparrow’s got game, it can’t be denied. Outfoxing the Lannister/Tyrell alliance yet again, his conciliatory gesture not only disarmed the primed forces of Highgarden, but slotted Tommen and Margaery into his own deck. Well-timed kindness and compromise are the High Sparrow’s weapons, and he’s bludgeoning the Lannisters with them on a weekly basis.

Jaime, for his part, was removed from the Kingsguard and sent to Riverrun on a seemingly trivial errand. To be fair, three kings have died on his watch, one of whom he consciously sliced into dragony chunks, so there was already a big question mark beside his king-guarding credentials. Rather sadly, I can’t help but feel that Jaime may well be riding to his doom. I’m operating on no more than a hunch, but the ominous convergence of the Freys and Jaime on Riverrun feels like a convenient starting point for the North’s revenge, which has been 3 seasons in the making. Seeing some Freys get served up would be cathartic, but Jaime has come a long way from the incest-y jerk who pushed Bran out of a tower in the first ever episode. We didn’t realize it then, but maybe he his biggest mistake was not finishing the job.

And finally, Daenarys finally managed to tame her beast, as the episode closed with Westeros’ Queen-elect sitting atop Drogon and whipping her new Khalasar into a frenzy. For the love of the Seven, please be heading West now. There’s shifts in the political landscape of Westeros, I can feel it in my loins. Next week’s episode of Game of Thrones will see the return of a beloved character and the stage has been set for some real upheaval. All-in-all, a well-paced episode in which each segment was interesting without being game-changing, so I’m giving this one 3.5 time-travelling powernaps out of 5

It was probably because the last episode was such a belter.. but I was disappointed in this episode.
It was a hard come down from the genius reveal of hold the door, to the depressing and slow pace of Gilly and Sam.

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we're banking on this being the best

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we’re banking on this being the best gaming event in Ireland during 2018!